Buzz
by FilmGrrl99
Summary: Mulder and Scully investigate a town plagued by a mysterious deadly fly species.


I found several stories I wrote, circa 1994/95 or so. Thought it'd be a trip to re-post here for anyone wishing to read them. Enjoy.

The X-Files, and the characters of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder

belong to Chris Carter and Ten-Thirteen Productions and FOX Broadcasting.

I have used the characters without permission. No copyright infringement

intended.

I started this sometime in August, and finished it uh

November something let's say the 3rd. The story is based on my little

trip to a diner, which if anyone ever comes to where I live I warn you not

to go there, but the rest comes from my sick little mind. And any

resemblance to the episode The List is purely coincidental. I came up

with this first. They took it from ME. Oh yeah and any feedback on the

story would be great, I'm all ready for them flames! And without further

due:

B u z z

By: FilmGrrl99

The fly circled around the hamburger three times before deciding

where it wanted to land. It prodded the piece of meat then flew away.

Seconds later two more flies came and landed on the hamburger.

That was the last straw, he was truly disgusted. "Excuse me miss?

Miss?" Martin Lear couldn't believe the luck he was having today. First

he was late for work, then he missed an important business meeting, on his

way to play tennis at the YMCA a bus had splattered mud all over his new

suit, someone then stole his pants so he had to walk around in his Umbros

for the rest of the day, and now flies were all over his hamburger and no

one was going to acknowledge it. "Miss!"

The waitress turned around. After working in the diner the entire

day, the last thing she needed was some jerk complaining about his food or

the service. "Yes, Sir?"

"There are flies back here. They are all over my food, and they keep

biting me. Ow!" He bent down and rubbed his leg. "Don't expect me to pay

for this."

"Let me go get the manager," she said in that typical "bite me"

tone. They both knew she had no intention of getting the manager.

Another fly landed on his burger, and Martin hit it- killing it. A

second fly landed on his leg, but before he could swat it away, it bit

into him. Suddenly his head began to ache. He brought his hands up and

rubbed his temples. He watched the flies land on the hamburger, then fly

away. His headache was getting worse by the minute. Another fly landed

on his right calf and bit him. This time blood slowly streamed out,

running down his leg and coating the wall beneath the table with his

blood. Martin looked down to see his blood flowing from the bite. He

began to panic. Getting away was all he could think of as he scrambled to

escape the booth. However, his feet entwined and he fell to the floor.

The other few diners who were seated near him began screaming for the

waitress. Martin grabbed his head feeling nausea spread over him and wave

after wave of dizziness. He screamed out in pain as something under the

skin of his head began moving. He screamed as long and as loud as he

could until he felt his throat burn and his lungs protest from lack of

oxygen.

The waitress came running over to see the man see had spoken to not

five minutes earlier screaming and bleeding on the floor. Suddenly the

skin on the side of his head began to tear and instead of blood, a thick

green liquid came gushing out.

Everyone began to panic. Children started crying, women and men

screaming, and the waitress felt her stomach turn as she ran in the

opposite direction, towards the bathroom. On her way she hit into the

manager, who was coming out of the kitchen to see what was going on. He

was only halfway there when he saw the dead man with still more of the

green liquid coming out. His mouth dropped open and he ran towards the

phone.

Eatins Diner

Losen, NH

2:35pm

He glanced at his watch. It had been almost two hours since he had

called the State Police Forensic Lab at the Capital hoping someone there

would have an answer. No one there, however, had any idea, but suggested

that two FBI agents who were at the lab on other business might be of

help. The agents, the lab director said, worked in some special section

of the FBI dealing with abnormal crimes. "Just great," the Sheriff

thought, "What the hell are abnormal crimes? Probably the FBI term for

serial killings. What good are these two going to do," the Sheriff

continued to wonder. "This is no serial killing. In fact, it probably

isn't a killing at all. Just a strange death." The Sheriff had no clue

to explain the green liquid and thought the FBI agents would be equally

mystified. At least, he thought, he could tell his superiors that he

consulted with the FBI and they were stumped. Yes, it might even be a way

to cover his butt. Anyway, where are they, he thought glancing again at

his watch. They should have been here already.

A car pulled into the parking lot behind him. He walked towards it,

ready to tell the driver to pull out. The driver opened the car door and

immediately the sheriff heard yelling and arguing. The driver and

passenger both emerged at the same time, still arguing. The sheriff

looked at the passenger, finding it remarkable that a little thing like

her could yell that loud.

"Scully, give me a break. I got us here on time didn't I?"

"No Mulder, we're half an hour late. I told you the parkway would be

faster. Why don't you ever listen to me?" It had been a long week for the

two agents, and their annoyance with their present assignment had begun to

show in their tempers. One week traveling up to the East Coast, meeting

with State Forensic Labs to go over revised reporting procedures being

requested by the FBI was not something they wanted to do or, for that

matter, thought they should be assigned to do. This assignment had, in

their minds, really nothing to do with the X-Files, although their

superiors claimed otherwise. Mulder spent the week explaining that it was

a conspiracy to interfere with their work. Scully was tired of hearing his

paranoic diatribes on a routine assignment, but inwardly felt he was

probably correct. Anyway, both agents were irritable and it showed

The two looked forward and found the sheriff watching them with a

half-smile on his face. All conversation abruptly stopped and

professionalism came back.

"Hello, Sheriff, we're from the FBI. I'm special agent Mulder and

this is special agent Scully." Mulder took out his ID and watched Scully

do the same.

"Sheriff Sampson." He looked at them both one more time before

saying, "The body is this way." The sheriff brought them through a small

crowd of people outside and through the diner's front doors to the covered

body, which was located at the rear of the diner. "I've got no idea what

happened to this guy. It's a little strange. The man's name is Martin

Lear." Scully knelt down at what appeared to be the head and removed the

cover. Her expression changed from annoyance to amazement and horror.

Seeing this, the other agent bent down for a closer examination.

"Uh, Scully. . ."

"Autopsy?" she managed to say.

"Later today. At Doctor Philip Greenberg's office. He'd be

assisting you, but he came down with a case of the flu. Ironic isn't

it. So you'll have to do it by yourself, unless you feel safer with a

more qualified person then we could wait for the doctor to get better."

Scully looked up at the sheriff. He had that same smile that Hodge

had had up in the Arctic when he accused her of being infected with the

worm. She hated that smile.

Mulder knew what was going to follow. It was never a good idea to

piss off Scully. He decided before she could say anything that could get

them kicked off the case, he'd change the subject. He quickly leaned over

and squeezed her shoulder with his hand and nodded his head over to marks

he had discovered on the body's leg. "What are these on his legs?"

Before letting go of Scully, he made sure the sheriff went ahead of them

to avoid another confrontation. Scully gave Mulder a dirty look, and bent

down over the body.

"They look like insect bites," she said.

"From a. . . *mosquito*?" Mulder inquired. Scully looked at him, he

was smiling and his eyebrow was raised.

"Maybe," she said, giving him another one of her pleasant looks as she

stood up and stepped away from his grasp on her shoulder.

"Excuse me folks, but it's winter. There aren't too many mosquitos still

hanging around." Some experts, the sheriff thought sarcastically. He

took another look at the bites and noticed a stream of dried blood coming

from one. "What kind of insect draws that amount of blood?" he wondered.

The manager came up to the three of them. He looked very pale and focused

his eyes everywhere else but in the vicinity of the body. "Um Sheriff, I

got the waitress to calm down enough so that she could talk. She said

that he was complaining about flies that they kept biting him." His gaze

darted back and forth between the sheriff and the two agents waiting for

one of them to comment.

"Where is that waitress now, I would like to talk to her," said the taller

agent.

"She really can't talk too well. She's too shook up, we all are. This

was a very unexpected incident. . . and not too easy to stomach. Although

it might be easier for her to talk to the sheriff instead. FBI might just

shake her up even more."

Mulder nodded and walked back over to the body. "Are there usually flies

around here?"

"No, never. I run a very clean business. I have never even seen a fly

in here."

"Never?"

"No."

Mulder nodded again thinking that he answered that question a little too

fast. He looked up at the booth, towards the unfinished burger. "Was

that his table?"

"Yes, I think so. I saw him to his seat. Unless he moved, which is very

unlikely, that's his seat."

Mulder got up from his crouching position to look at the remnants of his

food. "Well, I'd hate to break this to you, Sir, but there is a dead fly

on this burger."

The manager gave him a dirty look, turned around, and stormed out through

the door.

The sheriff looked over at Mulder, who shrugged. "Anyway back to the

autopsy. Agent Scully was it? Are you going to perform it?"

She disliked this guy already. What was it with these small town

sheriffs. They all think they're better than everyone else. "Yes I will

be." She looked over towards Mulder. He was still examining the

hamburger. "Anything?"

"Yeah. Do have one of those evidence bags on you?"

She reached in her pocket of her overcoat, pulled out one and handed it

to him. "These flies are about all we have for now." He looked down at

the body and the green liquid. "Let's take a sample of that, too."

Office of Doctor Greenberg

4:28 pm

"Mulder, this was pretty bizarre," Scully said as she walked towards her

partner.

"Oh, and I missed it."

"Where were you?"

"Just checking up on our victim. Med records mainly."

"Did you find anything unusual?" Scully questioned as she slumped into

the overstuffed leather chair in the doctor's lab.

"Nope. Why?"

"Well, when I cut open the body. . . not even you would be able to

stomach what I saw."

"Try me."

"There was a lot of this green stuff-"

" Stuff'. I love those medical terms of your's, Scully."

"I haven't identified it yet, Mulder. Anyway, I found microscopic

organisms of some kind throughout the body." She brought him over to the

microscope and focused the lens over the slide.

He bent over the scope and looked through, seeing all these tiny white

organisms crawling around. They seemed to be attacking each other with

the victors consuming the bodies of the vanquished. "What are they?"

"Nothing I've ever seen. They seem almost cannibal like, but once I add

some of the victims blood," she took out a small dropper with some blood

on it and squeezed the contents on the slide, "they leave each other alone

and go after the blood."

"So they eat the blood?"

"Not exactly. I examined some of this man's blood afterwards. The

organisms were still present, but they weren't moving, they just died.

However, I also found eggs. They laid eggs in the blood, then died"

Mulder started to back away from the microscope, mouth open, looking a

little sickened. "Scully, if that waitress was right, these bugs could be

a larval stage of that fly I found on the hamburger."

"Mulder these "bugs" as you call them are. . .well I don't know exactly

what they are, but the larval stage of flies are maggots. And regular

house flies do not bite. Horse flies and deerflies bite, but neither lays

it's eggs in a humans blood and neither would cause this green fluid to

come out. This fly," she took the bag in her hand, "is a regular house

fly."

"Well maybe this is a new species of fly."

"That is highly unlikely, Mulder. Now can I just give you some more of

the information I found?" He nodded. "This man's head was filled with

this green liquid, his brain looked. . .well it was almost as if. . . as

if it had exploded inside his skull."

"Exploded?"

"Yes, I have never heard of anything like that ever happening. . .but

there were small pieces of his brain scattered around, unless maybe his

brain was eaten. There were traces of the eggs all around the skull. The

pieces of the brain I found were covered in eggs." If Mulder wasn't sick

before, he was now.

"What about that blood on his leg," he managed to croak.

"What about it?"

"If the fly did bite him how did it draw that much blood?"

"I already wondered that myself, so I magnified the bite." She took out

a pocket microscope and held it over the bite in his leg. "If you look

closely you'll see very tiny teeth marks." Mulder bent over the

microscope and looked at the marks.

"But flies don't have teeth."

"I took some pictures of it maybe we could have the guys in Washington

analyze it."

"Maybe. Why don't we look at that green stuff now."

While she was preparing a new slide Mulder couldn't help but wonder.

"Scully isn't it true that flies could live as parasites under the skin of

animals causing myiasis? Maybe, if this is a new fly, instead of maggots,

it starts as these little bugs."

"Maybe, but Mulder most likely these are regular house flies that have

been. . . disturbed, much like the killer bee, which could possibly

disrupt the fly's regular behavior." She made a few adjustments and

looked through the microscope. "Oh dear god."

"Scully? What is it? What's wrong?"

All the blood rushed out of her face and she turned white. "You might

just be right, Mulder."

That caught him a little off guard. Although he was surprised she had

actually accepted his theory, he was also a little scared by her

reaction. He looked through the microscope and saw many tiny maggot-like

creatures. "What the hell?"

They looked at each other and then towards the dead fly in the bag.

Sheriff's Office

20 minutes later

Both Mulder and Scully came running into the office only to find a

sleeping sheriff. "Sheriff!"

He jumped up onto his feet immediately fully alert and hand on gun.

"What!"

"You have got to isolate that diner, do not let anyone in. And I would

like a list of the people in the diner when that man died, we need to test

them for infection."

"What? What are you talking about? What did you find?"

Scully tossed the report to the sheriff and began explaining about the

eggs, bites, and the maggots-like creatures. "We sent the fly out to get

tested. The results should be here either later tonight or early tomorrow

morning. The green liquid is also with it, as well as some blood samples."

"Let me get this straight. You want me to gather up everyone who was in

the diner that day and ask them to come down to my office so we could see

if there are any killer bugs in their blood. Then I am supposed to close

down the diner and prevent people from going in and these little flies

out. Do I have this all right?"

"Yes, Sheriff. I know this might sound a little odd, but this could be

some genetically altered fly."

He's crazy. This man is damn crazy. "Uh-huh a genetically altered

fly." He gave each agent a glance, seeing that they weren't kidding.

"Okay I'll bring the people, but you're going to do the explaining." He

looked back up at the pair to see if either changed their minds before

saying, "Doctor's office okay?"

Office of Dr. Greenberg

"Maybe we should wait for the tests to come back on the fly before doing

anything, Mulder."

"Scully, if these people have those bugs that means it could spread. It

could also kill. We have to."

The minute the sheriff walked through the door the hallway began booming

with shouts of protest. The sheriff poked his head into the room.

"They're heeeere."

"Well that kills that thought." Mulder, feeling both disappointed and

relieved, slumped down into the doctor's chair.

"Maybe this Martin Lear was just a very sick man. Maybe he just

possessed some kind of parasite."

"Scully, a parasite wouldn't make his brain explode, it wouldn't have

these bugs in the body, and it wouldn't have the larvas encased in that

green stuff."

"Mulder there is no proof that. . ."

"Is the sheriff still questioning people?"

"Yes. He's asking questions that don't even pertain to the case."

"Hmm I think I'll go pay the sheriff a visit. Why don't you call

Washington, see if they came up with anything."

Mulder came back into the sheriff's office with a grin on his face. He

looked around for his partner and saw her sitting in the doctor's chair

arguing to someone on the phone.

"No, not later NOW. . .no *I* can't, but I know people who will if you

won't give me what I'm asking for. . .Fine. . .Yes I understand. . .no I

won't. . . yes. . .goodbye." She looked up to see Mulder grinning like a

big idiot. "What did you find?"

"I asked them if they had been bitten. Everyone said no. I thought

that was a little strange that the flies would bite one person, so I

filled out a chart of where everyone was seated. Our Mr. Lear was seated

in the back booth, everyone else was further forward . The closest person

to him was two booths forward to the left. What did you find out?"

"Something very interesting. The fly had a needle puncture in it.

That's all he would tell me over the phone and I had to fight just to get

that."

"Could they have been injected with something that could produce those

bugs? When are the results coming back?"

"The report is being faxed out in an hour. But I don't know, Mulder,

who would inject flies?"

"I think we should take another trip to the diner."

Eatins Diner

Next day

"I thought you two said no one is allowed in?"

"Right." This sheriff was really starting to get annoying. Why he

was joining them Mulder would never know. "The flies only attacked the

man in the back booth, they left everyone else alone."

"When we were here yesterday we were at the back booth and I didn't see

any flies."

"Maybe the flies are nocturnal."

"If they are, why are we here now?"

"It's only a guess, Sheriff. Anyway if they are, we'll be safer now

rather than tonight." Mulder shivered sub-consciously in memory of the

last time he had dealt with nocturnal bugs.

The door had been locked shut. Only the sheriff and manager had a

key. The air inside was very damp and heavy. Scully reached toward the

light switch and turned on the lights. For only being abandoned for a day

the place had a remarkable amount of cobwebs. The sheriff started towards

the booth and pulled something out of his coat.

"What's that?"

"Raid. Just in case something happens." The two agents followed his

lead. The hamburger had been removed and thrown away even though Mulder

had told them to preserve it. The floor had been washed and cleaned, once

more against Mulder's orders. The three came upon the back booth, and

began to search for any traces of flies.

"Agent Mulder, I think I've found something."

Both Mulder and Scully came over to where the sheriff was kneeling.

Peering down they saw what had caught his attention. "What the. . .?"

Attached to the wall was a translucent green casing. Inside the casing

movement could be seen. The agents focused hard on the casing and soon

realized the movement was caused by tiny maggots, which were slowly

forming into flies right before their eyes.

The sheriff got up, holding his hand against his mouth, and ran towards

the bathroom. Mulder watched him wondering if he should do the same,

instead he took deep breaths and moved away from the table. "Mulder, we

have to remove it. If these are the pupa stage of this fly that means

they'll be hatching soon. We have to remove the case and destroy it."

"Destroy it?"

"Oh, no. I am *not* having this conversation with you all over again.

Maybe if it could be contained we could send it to Washington for further

testing, but we have to get it out now." By that time, the sheriff

emerged from the bathroom, wiping his mouth and spraying some Binaca into

it.

"Sheriff do you have a pocketknife handy?" The sheriff handed it to

Mulder. "Okay thanks. Now where are we going to put it?

"There are some food containers in back I could get." The sheriff left

then came back with a container.

"Hold it underneath the casing and don't let the casing touch you."

Mulder placed the knife at the top and brought it down behind the casing

to peel it away from the wall. Mulder noticed blood at the very back of

the casing, which he realized, must have been the medium for the flies to

develop the casing. As he cut it away, it made strange sucking sounds as

it slid off the wall. The case fell with a sploosh into the container.

The sheriff's hand started to quiver. "Thanks, Sheriff I'll take it

now." Mulder placed the cover on top of the container and turned to go

before remembering Scully. "Scully?"

He heard someone whisper "Mulder" in a barely audible voice. He looked

around and saw Scully standing very still, her arm on one of the tables,

and her eyes fixed on her arm. He took a closer look and saw one of the

flies on it. She opened her mouth just a little to whisper, "Get it the

hell off of me."

He matched Scully's rigid position, waiting for a chance to spring

forward and kill it. The fly kept walking around her arm, taunting her.

The sheriff walked up to the table from behind Mulder then walked to the

left so he was right in front of the fly. He took out his can of Raid and

a lighter. "Agent Scully I'm going to spray him, once I do I want you to

get back," he whispered. Mulder tightened his hold on the container and

watched the sheriff bring the can closer to the fly.

Sheriff Sampson looked directly at Scully and mouthed one. . .two. .

.three. He sprayed it and Scully darted back. Before the fly could

re-orient itself, the sheriff clicked the lighter on and sprayed the Raid,

again aiming once more toward the fly. The fly and half the table lit up

in a brilliant orange flame. "Mulder, get me that fire extinguisher."

Before putting out the fire, the sheriff waited until he was sure the fly

was dead.

Scully collapsed to the floor in relief, then looked at her arm making

sure it hadn't bitten her. She was shaking. "Scully, are you okay?"

Mulder was immediately at her side.

"I'm fine, Mulder. Thank you Sheriff." She slowly calmed herself down

and walked towards the bathroom to wash her arm off. Both men waited in

silence for her to return.

Sheriff's office

"Here's the technician's report. Needle puncture in body. . .traces of

an unidentified chemical. Here's something interesting: it was identified

as a housefly, but it had a mandible and maxillae, which would allow it to

bite."

"What about that chemical?" asked Mulder.

"All he says is that it could not be identified."

"So what we're talking about some mutant bug,"the sheriff joined in the

conversation only to get strange looks from the agents.

"Maybe, but more like an altered bug. A genetically altered fly. If

this fly was implanted with a mandible it won't know how to bite. A fly

knows how to bite through it's genes. This fly's genes would also have to

be altered or implanted. Mulder did you talk to them about the casing yet?"

"Yeah. I'm sending it out on the next plane there. They're going to

test it, but for the meantime they want us to quarantine the building and

keep watch on the people that were there."

"So what, that's it. Keep watch? What about the flies? Can't they get

out of the diner?" the sheriff asked, having his nervousness seep into his

voice.

"Sheriff all the doors and windows are shut, locked, and sealed up. A

fly cannot get out of there. Besides there is nothing else we can do.

All we could do now is watch and wait.

Scully's Apartment

Washington, DC

Three weeks later

"X-File #X278G9A1: The case of Martin Lear and the death he encountered

at Eatins Diner in Losen, NH by a mysterious fly of unknown origins. The

housefly Agent Mulder found in the diner had been injected with an unknown

chemical, when analyzed it was also found that it had a mandible and

maxillae- these two features alien to a housefly-allowing it to be able to

pierce the skin of its host. The small bugs that were found in the blood of

Lear have also yet to be identified, although it is speculated that they

are the larval stage of this "fly". After extensive testing it was found

that these bugs could reproduce themselves as long as the eggs were in the

host's blood. It is my theory that the flies were injected with the bug

and upon puncturing the skin, released the bug into the host, where they

would develop into the pupa stage inside of the casing. The flies had an

accelerated development, and would change from one stage to the other, as

long as they were provided with blood and protection, in a few hours.

Upon genetic testing and research, the fly was found to have two different

pairs of genes. One of which was again, alien to a housefly, belonging to

a fly most likely resembling that of mosquito but not belonging to an

actual mosquito. The other was that of a housefly. The organisms found

in the casing- which I speculated earlier were the pupa stage of this

creature- were also unidentified, as they had all died immediately after

removal from the casing. It is my guess that if they did hatch they would

have the same characteristics as the fly from which they came. There has

been no attempt as of yet to study the casing. The body of Martin Lear

was quarantined by the government to prevent the possible spread of the

bug. Both Agent Mulder and I as well as the patrons who were at the

diner, and all others who had come in contact with the body and the flies

have just been released after a two week quarantine. No one became

infected with the bug. Eatins Diner was destroyed in a mysterious fire.

Nothing more remains of it, including any remaining flies, which may have

been in the diner. There has been no talk about rebuilding another

diner."

Scully turned away from the computer for a moment. She rubbed her eyes

that were now burning from staring at her computer screen. She reached

over to her coffee table and took another bite of her pizza, then she

turned back towards her computer to finish typing. "Because there is no

evidence as to how the flies got to the diner or to who injected the flies

and corrupted their genetic makeup, this case remains open and unsolved."

Scully let out a sigh of relief as she typed the last word. She turned

back towards her pizza and stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth fell

open and her eyes filled with horror. For there, on her pizza, was a

large black fly. The fly walked on the pizza, then flew off, onto her

hand. She stared at it, unable to move. She felt it's legs on her skin

as it walking up and down her fingers. Finally it flew away, back out the

window from which it came. Scully lunged towards the open window, and

slammed it shut. She then let out a breath she didn't know she was

holding, and sagged back down into her chair. Suddenly the phone rang.

She made an attempt to get up, but was too drained. "Screw it," she

thought. The machine answered and a familiar voice came on.

"Scully? Scully it's me pick up. Scully?"

Scully jumped up and raced towards the phone. Mulder's voice did not

sound pleasant. She yanked the phone up from the stand. "I'm here."

"There's been another one."

"What?"

"Another death in a town fifty miles south of Losen. All they would say

was that someone died under the same cause as the one in New Hampshire.

And I just got a call from an agent in New York, he said another person

fell victim. The body is going to the CDC. Scully, this time nearly

fully developed flies were in the green liquid when the guy's head opened

up."

"How could that be? The flies were destroyed in the fire, a-and the

body is in quarantine, and the infection tests came back negative. . ."

"Well Scully, somehow something has survived, and migrated."

Scully's mouth opened slightly in recognition, her heartbeat began to

quicken, her face went pale, and her body began to shake. She looked at

her half-eaten pizza, and then slowly turned her head to look out the

closed window. Through it, she could almost hear the faint buzzing in the

distance. Her grip on the phone loosened, and it fell to the floor with a

thump.

"Scully? Scully are you there? Are you okay? Scully?"

THE END


End file.
